Coronavirus vs HIV

[Puppylucky]

This is not trying to start a bun fight, but being old enough to remember HIV in its ferocious initial effect I think has really given me a different perspective on Covid. At 20 I was presented with information and a govt campaign that told me that the most basic instinct of life was fatal and I watched cultural icons die in a horrible and stigmatised way. But life continued. We took the risks that the young do and life was a bleaker for a while (read Rupert Everett's first autobiography for details) but eventually things changed for the better and HIV positive is no longer a death sentence.
Fast forward 30 years and the world has shut down over a virus with a much lower death rate. Seriously what am I missing?

@Panicwiththebisto

Before more effective treatments were developed in the 90s, HIV was a death sentence, even someone for otherwise healthy, in their 20s.

Now if someone in their 20s gets COVID, statistically they have a very good chance of surviving it.

True but it was also fairly easy to avoid catching it in the first place

@x2boys

I'm 46 so I remember "the don't die of ignorance campaign " and whilst there was fear and misinformation ,it didn't shut schools down and work places ,we didn't have to wear facemask ,s whilst shopping in the very early days people worried they might catch it from sharing cups , utensils etc ,but most people were educated enough to realise how to protect themselves from it.

Yes I remember vaguely fearing I might catch it from something like sharing a cup, but obviously there was not the fear of potentially catching it every time you shared oxygen with some one.

I think we did dissolve into a pit of hysteria!

People were afraid to have sex, or mix with someone HIV positive. They were pariahs